Who dat?

Ugh, just typing that title makes me shiver.  But I typed it for a reason.  You’ll see in a minute.

So my friend Sarah brought it to my attention about this up and coming rapper that is from our town named J. Cole.  He’s Jay Z’s protégé.  He currently lives in New York but he lived down here in Fayetteville NC during his youth.  Well, he decided to come and put good ol’ Fayetteville on the map in his new music video “Who Dat”.  I watched the video tonight and I have to say I am kind of disappointed.  But honestly I think I am disappointed for the wrong reasons. I mean the video was a well done video.  But it makes our town look bad.  They picked a run down section of town that is mostly industrial, which hey it fits the video well.  But, it just makes Fayetteville look like it’s worn down all over and it honestly isn’t.

I wouldn’t be so sensitive about this if it weren’t for the fact that my town is constantly getting a bad rep.  I have heard it called the armpit of the state.  Yes, back in the day, due to the military presence in our town we did have a lot of issues with the guys going to the strip clubs and bars on one street down town in general.  We had prostitution problems as well as drug problems. But over the years the town has really cleaned up and those areas have been cleaned up as well.  Yes we still have our strip joints and a few bars, but it’s not as bad as before.  But I worry this video will once again make our city look so bleak when it really is a nice city.

To top this off, they had the cheerleading squad from one of our colleges in town as well as the marching band from one of our high schools in the video.  Now the thing that gets me about this is that the high schoolers were there during school.  Unless it was a day off, I really find a problem with this.  How is this educational.  They weren’t even high schoolers from the school he went to.  There are some thoughts behind why he choose a different school, but some of them are rather racists.  I’m thinking the school principal didn’t approve of letting the students participate.  But also the two schools that did also have a bad rep of being a certain way when they truly aren’t.  I don’t know.  I guess I’m just really disappointed in how this will reflect us here and the kind of people here.  Here’s the video if you’d like to watch it.  WARNING!!!  THIS VIDEO IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK OR CHILDREN!!!  Yeah, it’s THAT bad.  I mean, no different than your average rap video, but let’s say that every other word is not one you want your kids repeating.  Get it?  Got it?  Good.  Now on to the video: Who dat?

 

 

Here’s the making of the video.  NOT SAFE FOR WORK OR CHILDREN!

 

 

 

Ok, so there is the video.  Now from watching this video, how do you feel about Fayetteville?  Just from seeing this video?  It’s ok to be honest.  I want to know what this video makes you feel.

 

Now, here are some videos that are closer to how Fayetteville really is.  This are safe for work and children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, so you all get the idea, right?  The city is not Skid Row in the least, and it is growing by leaps and bounds every year.  Now like I said, it wasn’t always like this.  Our city used to just be a hick town that was full of mostly two lane roads or dirt roads and a few shops here and there.  I’m glad I got to see it grow over the years and turn into a thriving community.  And it is still improving.  I just feel videos like this will hide all the good that has been done in our city and only show the bad.  I understand that the theme in the rap video is what you see in most rap videos, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I hope that it won’t reflect to poorly on the city.  Yes I know most cities have an industrial section of the city, so maybe I am blowing this out of proportion.  I just really worry about the rep the city will get.  I guess I kind of feel like, he says that Fayetteville is home, but he lives in New York.  So it’s kind of like he doesn’t care what he makes our city look like because he doesn’t live here any more and he gets to leave and go back to his new home, leaving us to deal with the negative feedback.  *sigh*  Oh well, that’s my rant for today. Thanks for reading if you got this far.  Now I am seriously going to try to get some sleep, if the caffeine will settle down some.  Damn Pepsi.  I think it raises my blood pressure.  I feel better now but still hyper.  Guess I need to go back to my no soda rule, but water tastes so blah.  Ok that’s a rant for another day.  Bye all, talk to you tomorrow.

 

Loves ya,
Mouse